The Laboratory

To celebrate our 23rd wedding anniversary, my husband and I gave our kids their first experience staying home alone, while we went out for lunch to The Laboratory, a new pub in Lincoln. We’ve been waiting impatiently for this pub to open—it’s construction was delayed, and it’s been great fun to watch it go up. Built almost entirely with reclaimed materials, the building looks like it has been there for a hundred years already. The interior is quirky, and in keeping with the laboratory theme—water is served in Erlenmeyer flasks and beakers, table numbers are clipped to Bunsen burners, and tables are lit by a motley assortment of old articulated desk lamps.

The food is good, but limited—only 1 or 2 vegetarian options. The chips (fries), however, are excellent, and are served with aioli. We had hoped for a mozzarella sandwich today (which we’ve both had on previous visits), but as it wasn’t on the menu, we opted for a pizza. Lots of flavour on a cracker-thin crust—the perfect lunch pizza.

The Lab’s own brewery isn’t up and running yet, but they’ve got a nice assortment of craft beers. I enjoyed a lovely oatmeal stout (and was thankful I wasn’t driving home afterwards).

The best part of lunch was that the house didn’t burn down while we were away, and the only one who got into any trouble while we were out was the cat.